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How The iPad Mini Is Defining Tim Cook's Apple

At the start of the month I discussed five key features of the iPad Mini launch that would define Tim Cook’s Apple and illustrate the strategic direction that Apple would be taking in 2013 and beyond under his leadership. Now the details are confirmed, let’s revisit them.

Before I do, a quick thought. There’s no doubt in my mind that short-term the iPad Mini is going to be a hit, sell by the millions, and be the must have gadget for Christmas 2012. But selling lots of devices is the result of a strategy, not a strategy itself. Apple’s long-term health is just as important as the sales figures on the new hardware.

Historically the decisions and choices that eventually damaged weakened companies like Nokia, Kodak, and Sony all took place while sales were good and the corporate outlook was optimistic. Will Apple continue to grow and innovate? That’s what I want to look, rather than quantifying the upcoming success of the iPad Mini.

Allure: Tim Cook Doesn’t Have A Distortion Field.

How well did Apple sell the iPad Mini to the world? To be honest not very well. They trash talked the competition and specifically attacked the Nexus 7. They talked about the delight and wonder of retina screens before arguing you didn’t need one on the new iPad. And they updated March’s iPad for a new model, breaking an unspoken covenant that the iPad would be updated once per year.

More importantly, everyone noticed all this and wrote about it in relatively scathing terms. The mystique and power that made you want an Apple device simply because the man on stage told you… that’s all gone.

Aggression: Pricing Is Set To Remain High

Apple has traditionally priced their hardware at a higher point than the competition, but they always balanced this out by providing better hardware, more capability, and a better return on investment. The pricing of the first iPad was not a case of “how much is that tablet” but “how cheap!”

The situation is now reversed with the iPad Mini. It’s a smaller resolution screen, with less memory, and a larger physical footprint than the Nexus 7. Yes it has a stronger ecosystem but is that enough to justify almost double the price of the competition? Part of the presentation should have been to justify this luxury positioning, and I don’t think ‘thin’ is a long term strategy you can count on.

Acknowledgment: What about Maps?

Did I blink and miss the explanation of the issues around maps in iOS 6? I was hoping Tim Cook would have taken clear leadership of this issue. Instead it was airbrushed away as if it never mentioned – apart from everyone on Twitter pointing out that the iPad Mini and the Nexus 7 side-by-side comparisons failed to compare mapping, which is probably one of the key smartphone battlegrounds of the next few years.

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I think it is an unfair, how many times did Steve Jobs come out with a break through product in the 20+ years he led Apple? To criticize Tim Cook for merely coming up with a hole filling product in the 2+ years he has led Apple is ridiculous. Plus how many areas are left, we all saw the phone, the pad and the TV coming over many years, who is clamoring for other breakthrough products? No one, except for the damn TV but that is not Tim’s problem that is the industry’s.

Andrew, my worry here is precisely “merely coming up with a hole filling product in the 2+ years he has led Apple” and that has felt pedestrian. Where is the sparkle on that two years? Filling in gaps is good… until you fill in all the gaps. Then what?

Good analysis but I think there is too much focus on Tim. There’s enough public evidence to suggest that Steve knew no one person would be able to fill his shoes. Would like to see your thoughts on how the composition of Cook, Ive, Forstall, and Mansfield? might fair near term. The quote about Jony comes to mind:

“There’s no one who can tell him what to do, or to butt out. That’s the way I set it up.”

Okay, you guys are making me cry! Come on, though. Get real. Apple is innovating the crap out of everything it markets. Do you think bringing something completely new and unexpected grows on trees? But mark my words: one day in the not too distant future the door to an underground lab at Apple’s headquarters is going to swing open and a prototype Apple branded car, designed to perfection in California, will emerge. It will become the biggest selling terrestrial transportation system ever …

Did you forget that Steve Jobs had Tim Cook these last years, and now TIM seems to be doing both jobs well. Steve’s and his plus a Billion dollar lawsuit plus other law suits to numerous to mention.

I thought the new Mini Ipad was excellent, and the new iMacs blew me away. I love what got put on the APPLE STORE shelves. Also Steve had 25 years to think about things and finally getting it going after a lot of misses and a lot of years to adjust. So, think Tim is doing quite well, as good as anybody except Steve. The Apple Boat could have sank but it hasn’t. I would have to give him a solid A for his job, but a year ago I would been scared…… , he could be a C. , He didn’t hit out of the park but he hit it to the wall. If in 2013, we get a successful ITv something, I rate him A+, but I think the Networks won’t cooperate……. we might get something, but it will be a slow adjustment like ITUNES. I also just read a good review on the Mini by Mr fixit that it will be easy to customize and repair with Ram and hardrives and i didn’t expect that but we users will have something we wanted too. YES a solid A and a solid “WELL DONE, MR COOK, And Thanks from all of us!!!!!! I know you need a rest, But I hope you keep the ship afloat till the BOARD gets you some more help. I heard you start work at 5 am and go every day as long as you can. Also Thank you for making so many new millionaires out our your APPLE stock holders.

Apple has been innovating like crazy. Especially with the engineering that has gone into the new iMac which will sell like hot cakes. iPad mini will also be another large seller. Because it will be the first smaller sized tablet that you can actually do things on. Apple started this modern tablet market. It did not exist before the iPad. So of course they have been working on smaller form factors from the very beginning. The court documents showed that. Apple has been doing exactly the same things it was doing when Steve was here. At the launch of the iPhone Steve says you are very lucky to get to work on one revolutionary product. And of course that’s true. Apples entire product pipeline have been revolutionary products and proper evolutionary updates to them. These guys have worked along of Steve for years. And if you know anything about people you know that when you are around eachother for that long the other brushes off on you. These are A players. In fact these guys had their hand in inventions of these products. Phil shilled invented the click wheel for Christ sake. Johnny I’ve is why apple is so popular. Steve ran a company and was a visionary. But guess what? So are the entire team at apple. Time handles all of this stuff. There has been no change in apple. They have been doing what they do best, which is make the best products in the world that delight the consumer. Otherwise they sure wouldn’t be selling anything. The iPad mini is a product based off of the revolutionary one that apple created. What’s to sell about it? They’ve already done that with the original iPad since day one of its announcement. It’s not rocket science. People are going to buy the mini because its a s,Allen I compromised version of the iPad. Which will only get better over time. If you think apple isn’t innovating you have lost your mind. Just look at the patent website and all the thing submitted daily. Apple are the creators of the revolutionary products that everyone in the industry are trying compete with. Revolutionary products only come along one in a while. Apple has been lucky to introduce many of them. And from that point all you can do is think of how to improve the products you invented. Anyone with a brain and some common sense knows. Apple will continue to dominate, innovate, and delight consumers for a very very long time. And when a new breakthrough in technology comes around I can bet you my bottom dollar apple will be at the forefront. Apple did so much for this industry. They changed it. They molded it, and they lead it. And they sad it for a reason. Apple users don’t want a junk cheap $200 dollar plastic tablet that has 0 real tablet apps, has a bad user experience, filled with adds in order to operate it. The comparable competition is horrible.

I wanted to like the Mini, but pricing and performance have made that a very bad choice.

The new Nexus 7 32 gb is coming out on Monday and it will replace the 16 GB one at the same $250.00 price and the 16 gb Nexus will drop to $200.00 and the 8 gb one will be eliminated.

The Nexus 7 will also be available in a 3G model and a Nexus 10″ will be introduced on Monday as well.

So you need to compare the $250.00 32 gb Nexus 7 to a 32 gb $429.00 IPad Mini So the price difference is nearly double for the Mini.

The higher resolution display on the Nexus is also a really big deal and is much better formatted to show true HD video in 16 x 9 and the considerably lower resolution IPad Mini does not hold up at 16 x 9 at all well.

Finally, the Mini is poorly priced in comparison to the truly high performance Even Newer 4th generation performance doubled IPad with the super high resolution “Retina” display.

The Mini is just a shrunken old technology IPad 2 and is no where near as good as either the IPad 3 or 4.

If you want an IPad and can afford it Get an IPad, otherwise get a Nexus 7 or a Fire HD.

Don’t get a Mini.

We will be getting a 32 gb Nexus 7 and possibly a used 3rd gen IPad, definitely not a Mini.

Apple did come up with a bunch of neat stuff at the Apple Event, The Even Newer 4th generation high performance IPad, the new super thin IMac, the Mac Book Pro Retina and the really nice Fusion drive (I wish Windows did that).

Unfortunately, the much ballyhooed IPad Mini was really a technological and pricing disappointment even by Apple standards.

In fact, I genuinely think the Mini turned out to be the least worthwhile thing they introduced.

I think Cook is riding out the momentum that Jobs had before he left. Once that is gone, then Cook’s style becomes more evident.

Personally, I believe a CEOs personality, attitude and mentality has a strong bearing on the organization he leads. Apple will definitely go on another path and we will eventually know if it is the right one or not.